WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- White House press secretary Jay Carney said President Barack Obama is committed to corporate tax reform as a means of creating U.S. jobs.
The president is "committed to corporate tax reform because it's right for growth, it's right for job creation, and he will have that conversation going forward," Carney said Friday at a news briefing at the White House.
The topic came up in a question from a reporter who challenged Carney to explain why Obama named General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt the chairman of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness when GE, which made $14.2 billion in profits last year, is effectively paying nothing in federal taxes.
Carney said he could not answer for GE's finances, but added, "You can lower the (tax) rate … and still bring in the necessary revenue if you remove a lot of the loopholes and other aspects of it that make it complicated, that give companies fits and also make us less competitive in the process."
The question veered the briefing away from Carney's opening remark, which was to announce that by the fall automaker General Motors would rehire "the final 2,000 of the workers that were laid off" because of the recession.
"In terms of the economy in general and the American auto industry in particular, it's quite a remarkable thing. And so we think that's great," he said.
